Don't Miss Out On 'Amiibo' Wave 3

With existing Amiibo still selling strong and stock not always forthcoming, now's the time to get in early to avoid disappointment with Wave 3 of the Amiibo figurines.

Already out in Europe and arriving in North America on 1st February, pre-order charts have been seeing swift action and stock is already expected to be tight. In Ireland, Gamestop have cancelled the Rosalina pre-orders. "Due to unforeseen circumstances,
Nintendo advised us late yesterday evening that we will not be receiving this product."

With this it seems that Rosalina will be a hot character to get your hands on, and one that will fetch a tidy some in the grey second hand market. Amazon in the UK currently list the Rosalina figure at over twice the usual price.

Savvy families will also consider less popular figurines that can offer a similar experience for less well known characters. My kids have actually enjoyed discovering new Nintendo friends as much as owning small plastic versions of existing favorites.

Although some suggested the toy-video-game market was already saturated with Skylanders, Disney Infinity and Anki Drive, Amiibo have certainly made a strong start. Hard figures were absent from Nintendo’s financial report but news later came via
Bloomberg that the Amiibo line has sold 5.7 million units to date.

Perhaps the biggest risk for Amiibo is ensuring strong support from one game to another. Super Smash Bros. offers deep integration although Mario Kart 8 and Hyrule Warriors only lets you unlock items with the toy. With more games planned to support the toy figures Amiibo and updates for existing titles like Captain Toad Treasure Tracker support should continue to broaden.

Also, it seems you may need to reset your figures between games that write to the characters to record progress. Functionality here to backup progress before it is wiped will be important -- particularly with the multi-platform feature a strong Amiibo unique selling point.